Settled in the South

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

a visit to the Children's Museum

The rain has finally cleared and we were eager to get out and see some of SE Connecticut! We stopped by the Children's Museum and had a ball...

definitely her daddy's girl, driving the ship

fascinated by the beehive and the magnifying glass

playing the pipe organ

watching pennies race down the funnel

climbing around outside with a plastic fish that she treated like her babydoll

bubbles with Sofu!

too cool for words in mommy's aviators

and hat...

Monday, May 23, 2011

enjoying the deck...

We got our new patio furniture and Sofu and Cora spent the afternoon assembling it (each chair had 39 pieces, ugh!) Talk about PATIENCE!

"kampai"

Monday, May 16, 2011

I was nicely surprised today by a quaint tea at 3 pm in honor of our pending arrival! Mom, Cora and Becky were present (Becky via Skype...) and we had tea, finger sandwiches and cookies. We all wore hats and gloves and Finn and Bonny tried their best to "attend," as well. I was showered with gifts for Lil'r M, as well.... now baby won't be stuck with only hand-me-downs like most 2nd kids!

37 week belly!

putting on gloves for tea

showing Aunt Becky the tea table

Aunt Becky's hat and teacup

Cora's first sip of tea -- chamomile citrus, yum!

Cora's first mini-cream puff, YUMMY!

Finn and Bonny enjoying their special dog cookies

Lil'r M's own shamrock pj's

Cora's "big sister" tee

meanwhile, in CT...

Well, not much to report from "home," which I suppose is a good thing. Dad/Sofu showed up late last week and has been a God-send helping around the house and especially with Cora. She seems to have a thing for men... she's quick to obey his requests rather than challenge mine.

We've been able to talk or Skype with Greg daily, which has been wonderful (not like his deployments when we lived in Japan). I hope it stays that way once he gets to Afghanistan (my fingers are crossed, but skeptical) -- despite the time difference -- he'll be 8.5 hours ahead of us on EST.

Still pregnant, full-term now, phew! I still have excess fluid and a BIG belly, but I'm getting by. I still get twice-weekly monitoring and so far, all's well. For the most part, the house is "ready" for Lil'r M's arrival, though I'm sure I'm forgetting something...

Here's a few pix that were too cute to not post :)

Cora's "new" vintage tricycle brought by Sofu

Favorite way to pass time building Legos

walking into church, check out that outfit with rainboots (her choice, of course) and they were NEEDED!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

An entry from Greg...

Greg has now entered the second portion of his training for Afghanistan. Last week in Norfolk he spent the week listening to briefs (that he claimed "would put Biden to sleep"), getting checked (again) by medical to ensure he was fit for duty (Greg was surprised how many thought he was in top physical condition... something Greg has never been told before), and issued Army uniforms and gear (he is now the 3rd Madea in a row to wear an Army uniform... something he thought he had avoided)!

It was not all work as George, his college roommate, picked Greg up a couple of times to hang out with the family... for which both of us were grateful.

Now Greg is at FT Jackson (outside of Columbia, SC) trying to learn "the difference between a regular Sergeant and all the other special kinds of Sergeants the Army has.". I'm sure they're happy to have him amongst their ranks. Since he has not provided any updates to share, he has finally given the OK to share those below of training he received before deploying...

Unable to keep the event from me, he was at least trying to avoid having his Grandmother find out... such go the plans of mice and men... It seems (over a few beers), my beloved agreed to assist in the training of military working dogs attached to base security here at the Groton Sub Base. I thought he was joking until he came home with these pictures about a month ago. It seems Greg was dressed in the productive gear you see below and basically told to run... and then "Vincent" was sent after him. No stranger to dogs, Greg was completely blown away at Vincent's ability and was quite excited about the experience (something that was supposed to make me feel better). Apparently a good decoy makes or breaks a working dog - in other words, I guess there are people out there that the dogs don't care to chase in a training environment (it's as if they know it's not for real).

As you can see from the pictures below, Greg was able to tick Vincent off enough that "good training was held." So much so that Vincent's handler had a hard time pulling him off of Greg. I am so proud.